Night Watch
by The Space Port Seven Crew
Summary: A roleplay done in the Summer 0f 2000.


NIGHT WATCH  
  
Authored by (In order of appearance): Arrow Tibbs, Rekk Dravenekhan, Nula Kai, Lady Dragona, Pawsy, Alien Roz  
Copyrights and stuff: The authors make no claim to the many products and songs mentioned in this roleplayed story. We were doing this purely for fun and those products are that which we ate and drank during the roleplay :)   
Preed, Stith(Mentioned), Gune(Mentioned), and Korso(Mentioned) © Fox Animations  
Azure and Hoth(Short appearance) © -Arrow-  
Rekk © Himself  
Nane © Nula Kai  
Unaji and Seiska(Mentioned) © Lady Dragona  
Riya Togi, Kitt, Noah(Mentioned), and Senna(Mentioned) © Pawsy  
Jholao and Vishkai(Mentioned) © Alien Roz  
  
  
Azure took the cup out of the microwave and sniffed delicatly. She took a sip and turned up the speakers on her walkman.   
  
"When the night has come.   
And the land is dark.  
And the moon is the only light we see.  
No I won't, be afraid, no I won't shed a tear.  
Just as long as you stand, stand by me.  
So 'darlin', darlin' stand by me!   
Whenever you're in trouble just stand!   
Stand by me!"   
  
Azure sipped at her cocoa, heading for the control area, the floors coldness seeping through her socks. She sat in the chair, curling her legs up to her chest as she wrapped herself in the blanket she'd brought with her. She stared out at the snowy wonderland, all undisturbed minus their ship. She smiled. Life is beautifull.   
  
A small sound alerted her to Preed's presence. She wrinkled her nose in his general drection. There can be exeptions.  
"I take it this seat is empty?"   
Yes. And this one will be as well if you sit there. "Go away. Now, Preed." She glared sharply at him.   
  
***  
  
Rekk, shivering from the cold, walked with a stack of old Guitar World magazines to the control center. As he fumbled for the light switch, he saw Azure giving Preed the evil eye. They both looked towards him.  
Rekk said, "Is some type of bloodbath about to occur, cause I can mosey on elsewhere."  
Azure, still giving Preed a negative glance, said "No. A lynching would be pleasurable, but I think we're all too tired to fight."  
Preed rolled his eyes. "Rekk, where's your stash? I need an eye-opener."  
Rekk tilted his head toward his room. "You know where the goods are. Don't make a mess."  
Preed jogged towards Rekk's room.  
Rekk collapsed on the couch and opened a magazine.  
Azure shook her head. "He doesn't annoy you in the least?"  
Rekk shrugged. "Not as of now. Why does he get to you so much?"  
From Rekk's room, a shout was heard. "Damn it, Rekk, you greedy sloth, you finished off all the Jolt!"  
  
Azure looked out the window, nose twitching slightly as her ears drooped a bit, moving back and forth. "It bothers me to be flirted with in any manner. I'm pretty sure he just does it to annoy me, but it still aggravates me. A lot." She said, glaring at a nearby snow covered hill nastily.   
Rekk sipped a Citra and shrugged. "Who knows, maybe that's his way of making friends."  
Azure shrugged. "Maybe. It doesn't go well with me though."   
  
Preed returned in the room with six sodas under each arm. Rekk said casually, "You know, gathering those are harder than you think. And now you chug my entire stash in one night."  
Preed chuckled. "Don't think I didn't find the Twix collection in your sock drawer either."  
Rekk rolled his eyes in disgust. "You owe me. Hugely. Must I put a padlock on my damn door?"  
Rekk looked back to his magazine before glaring back at Preed. "What are you doing up this late?"  
The Akrennian shrugged. "Beats me. What are you doing up this late?"  
Rekk tilted his head towards the empty 2-liter Pepsi bottle on the table. "Caffeine hasn't passed through my bloodstream yet."  
Preed turned his head towards Azure and held out a can of Coca-Cola. "Hey there, care for an eye-opener?"  
Azure rolled her eyes and ignored Preed altogether. "Rekk, do you have any more 2-liter Pepsi?"  
Rekk thought. "Might be. Unless the Shah of Sugar here took them all."  
Azure, looking annoyed at Preed, said. "The 2 liters of Pepsi. Right now."  
Preed grinned sheepishly and took the bottle out of his jacket. "Your wish is my command!"  
Azure twisted open the bottle and said, "Really? Then I wish for you to go do something productive."  
  
"Tou-chy." Preed rolled his eyes.   
Azure repeated the action back at him. She snorted. "Thank you." And grabbed the Pepsi, grinning almost evily. "What do you think, if after I finish this we go out and have a snow bal fight?"   
Preed lifted an eyeridge. "Snowball?"   
  
Rekk thrust the magazine down at the combination of those two words combined: "Snowball" and "Fight". He jumped up off the couch and was jogging towards the exit before Azure could even put the cap back on her Pepsi.  
Azure grinned, tossed her blanket back and ran after him.   
"What is going on?"   
Azure grinned evily. "You'll see." She stoped at the door to toss on her shoes, a confused Preed doing the same.   
  
Rekk threw open the door and a beautifully cold burst of air flew into the room. The three of them walked outside and Preed, still confused, looked around and randomly kicked snow in places.   
"So...What are we doing?" Preed asked, before beiong hit with a snowball, he looked at Azure in surprize, she held a handfull of snow and was packing it together. WHAM! Another one beamed him.   
This time Preed ducked. "Eearg!"   
Preed suddenly understood what this "snowball fight" concept was. As he bent over to gather some snow, Rekk ran up to him, leapt in the air, and tackled Preed to the ground as they both started rolling down a steep hill. All the way down, Azure could hear Rekk screaming "YEE-HA!!!" and she laughed as she began jogging down the hill to see where they'd landed.  
  
Preed looked as if he was in a daze, just laying there as Rekk attacked him with snowballs. "That....I believe....Was....Interesting..." He said slowly, looking slightly confused and dizzy.   
Azure laughed out loud.   
Preed slowly got up, gathered some snow, and threw it at Rekk. The snowball knocked him in the head and Rekk toppled to the ground.   
A smile slowly formed on Preed's face. "I think I'm getting the hang of thi-..." His sentence was cut off from a snowball thrown by Azure that hit the side of his face.   
Rekk got up, gathered three snowballs, and aimed them towards Preed. "En garde!"   
"This is not a fair fight!"   
"Who ever said it would be?" Azure countered, throwing another pint-sized missile.   
  
Preed came to his senses and began hurling snowballs at Rekk and Azure simultaneously. Rekk ran off and said he'd be back. Preed gathered a snowball the size of a watermelon, and with a mischevious look in his eye, prepared to drop it on Azure's head. Then, an insane scream was heard in the background and Rekk appeared behind Preed with a 4-foot-wide snowshovel, with a pile of snow a foot high. He tilted the shovel and a cascade of snow fell on Preed's head. Azure and Rekk laughed and gave each other a high-five.   
Preed, rubbing snow out of eyes, slowly got up. He faced Rekk and stuck out his hand. "You throw a good snowball."   
Rekk shrugged and said, "I try." He shook Preed's hand. Suddenly, Preed sweeped his foot under Rekk's legs, and Rekk fell to the ground. Preed then grabbed the shovel, sweeped up a load of snow, and brought it down on Rekk's head. He then sweeped the snow off his shoulders with a smug grin.   
  
Azure grinned quite evily, as she crept up behind Preed. Whapwhapwhap! She threww three snowballs, thwacking him in the back of the neck, he danced around in circles as snow fell down his shirt.   
Preed shook the show out of his shirt. "Very funny." He looked over at Rekk, who was still lying motionless on the ground, his head covered in snow.  
Preed grunted. "Nice acting, Rekk. Now get up, the fight's not over."  
Rekk still lay there.  
"C'mon, rise and shine. I'll give you a free hit."  
He still lay there.  
"Rekk?"  
Rekk lay motionless.  
Preed leaned over and spoke loudly. "You all right?"  
Rekk sprang up with a shout and sprayed snow in Preed's face, scaring him and causing him to trip over his own feet.   
  
Azure was rolling on the ground curled in a ball shaking furiously.   
"Azure are you--"  
"Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!"   
"Okay..." Preed frowned and prodded her side with his toe, she curled up tighter suddenly.   
"Akkk! Noooooo!"   
Preed rolled his eyes. "Why do I feel as if I'm the scapegoat here?"  
Azure flicked snow in his face. "You're the most fun to pick on."   
The three of them sat there for a moment. "Hmm. cold isn't it?" Preed asked. Azure lifted an eyebrow, and exchanged glances with Rekk, the two smiled and looked at Preed.   
"Waht? What are you doing? Rekk? Azure? Uh....Put that down...Yerg!" Preed ran for his life as Rekk and Azure weilded snowballs at him, giving chase.   
  
The two of them chased Preed until they saw Preed's silhouette flail and slide at rapid speed.   
Rekk looked at Azure. "I didn't hit him that hard, did I?"   
They walked down to where he had been, and felt a hard surface as their feet began to slide. They were on a frozen lake.   
Preed skidded across the lake, flopping about, trying to right himself, he slowed down and tried to stand. Only suceedding in faling again.   
Azure grinned hugely. "Awww! Hold on a second!" She ran back to the ship, returning with a couple pair of ice skates. She grinned. "I knew we had some of these in storage somewhere, we were gonna' sell 'em." She sat down and put them on, they seemed to resize to fit her feet.   
  
Rekk fitted the ice skates on and handed Preed a pair.  
He stood up and found the skates fit well. Rekk then began to skate backwards and circled around Preed.  
"Stop it," Preed groaned, "You're making my head spin."  
  
Just over the next hill, a lone Sogowan trudged through the snow. She had come to this planet a few weeks ago on a cargo ship and since then had been trecking across the snowy hills and feilds, heading for the next space port. As she came over the crest of the hill she saw a small group playing in the snow two Akrennians and a human."Hello!" She shouted.  
Azure looked up and smiled. "Hi! Care to join us?" She asked, gesturing to a pair of ice skates still on the bank.   
Rekk skated up to the Sogowan and waved. "Hello. My name is Rekk, this is Azure. Who would you be? Feel free to join us!"  
Azure grinned, she jerked her head at Preed who was falling on his face. "Don't mind him." She jerked a thumb at him as he scrambled over.   
Nane walked closer, "Thanks for asking" she said stepping onto the ice, her large feet allowing her to glide across the frozen water, without the use of skates. "My name is Nane" she said.  
"Ahh...Another lovely-AAAHHHH!" Preed fell to an indignant heap on the ice.   
  
"Who is that?" Nane asked, pointing at Preed who was barried somewhere in the snow bank.   
Predd poked his head out of a heap of snow, looking annoyed. "Ptah!" He spat.   
Rekk grinned. "The snowbound Akrennian you see is Preed."   
"Not much on the Ice, is he? Heh heh heh."  
Rekk laughed "Afraid not. If another snowball fight outbursts, he's quite fun to defeat, as well... Preed! Slip over here and meet Nane, will you?"   
Nane watched the tall Grey Akrennian pull himself out of the snow drift. Preed stood unsteadily and slipped and slid over, landing on his front at Nane's feet. He mumbled something incomprehendable.  
  
Nane helped Preed up, Preed had to try very hard to avoid slipping again. "Um yes...Hello I'm Preed," he said imediatally falling down again.   
Rekk skated over to Preed with ice skates in hand. "Put these on, droogie, you're going to sprain your ankle."  
Nane turned to Azure " So where are all of you headed from here?"   
Azure shrugged. "Somewhere and nowhere. We don't really have any plans right now." Preed gratefull took the skates, slipping them on.   
  
Unaji awoke in a foul mood, as usual, the ship wasn't moving, and that wasn't a good thing. Mumbling she got off of the tiny bunk in her hip, thumping down the loading ramp and into Azure's much bigger ship, growling she walked through the corridors, heading for the cockpit, when she felt a draft of cool air. Swearing somthing under her breath about heaters she turned and walked out of the darkened hallways, and into the darkness of the new planets light. Looking around and the snow covored snow, she wasn't that surprised to see Preed, Azure, Rek, and someone new, playing on a flat, gleaming surface. Sighing she stuffed her hands into her vest pockets and started trudging towards the four.  
"What are you doing?! Have we all of a sudden forgot about the Drej! What if they- waooogh!"BR  
She hadn't noticed, but through all of her yelling and complaining she had neered a small inlet in the lake, and had walked out onto the ice.  
"What the heck is thiiiiiiiis?" She yelped, trying with all of her might to stop her forward slide. She got her wish, when her foot his a pile of snow, throwing her off balance and tumbling her onto the ice. Lifting her head off of the ice she saw the blurred form of Preed standing over her, a sarcastic grin hovoring on his lips. "Nice fall, makes mine look poor."  
"Shut up Preed."   
  
"Azure, do you think when you and your goup decide to leave this planet might I go with you?" Nane said hopeing Azure would say yes.   
"If she says no, you can join my ship!" Unaji yelled happily, getting up slowly and shoving preed into a snow bank.  
"We could always use a little help with my girl... Seiska, although loyal and helpfull, isn't enough for a ship of her size.... and the engines are crap."   
Azure smiled. "You might want to go with her."   
Preed slipped at that moment and grabbed Azure to steady himself, halfway pulling her down. "Akkk!"   
"Ok then." Nane said, she did not really care how she would be leaveing this planet, her only concern was that the company would be good and the ship would be one worked. then.   
  
Unaji took a cautious step forward, her large feet pading out and supporting her easily. Laughing nervously she put out her hand and steadied herself.  
"What is this stuff?"  
SHe asked, gliding a foot and falling on her face.   
"Ice." Azure said, smiling as she glided on her skates.   
"Ice?"  
Unaji mumbled, getting up and this time taking a glide without falling.  
"But isn't it.. um, smaller? LIke in little cubes?"   
"Not always!" Azure grinned widely, gliding in a circle. "Just try and get your balance before moving around."   
Preed looked up from the ice. "Is that even possible? At all?"   
"Not for you, stupid." Unaji sang, gliding past him.  
"This is easy!" Laughing she did a half twirl, and then stumbled, falling into a heap of limbs and arms.  
"Shut up!"She growled at Preed's grinning face.   
  
Azure smiled. "Anyone want to race?" Several of the group looked at her as if she was suddenly growing huge feelers out her ears. "What?"   
"Nope," Unaji smiled. "I just learned how to stand."  
Azure half-smiled and looked at the others who shook their heads and looked in other directions. Azure sighed, a bit deflated. Nane glided around a bit doing little spins.   
"Thats it! You got the hang of it!" Azure smiled.  
Preed attempted to get to his feet once more, ending up half-way doing a flip onto his side. "Yerg!"   
"Sucker." Unaji smirked, gliding past and swishing some ice shards at Preed with her tail.  
"Isn't the ice a lovely place to sit, Preed?"   
  
Preed shivvered and stood once more, shaking with effort. Azure glanced him as she passed, blinked and turned around. Right down Preed's backside was a huge wetmark. Azure fell to the ice snickering.   
"What?-*!*" Flump. Preed was down again. "Whats so funny?"   
Azure grinned as she stood again. "You've got a wetmark on your rear end, thats what." She shoved him towards a tree with an overhanging branch which he used to pull himself up and inspect his rear.   
"It's not funny." He grumbled.   
"Didn't you mother teach you anything?" Unaji laughed, smiling at Preed.   
Preed glowered at Unaji and Azure. "That was low, that was very low."   
Azure sputtered and fell on her back, shaking and hooting.   
  
Nane, after seeing the back of Preed's pants Nane had to clamp her hands over her beak to muffle her snickering.  
Preed wrinkled his nose at them, glared and stalked off to change his clothes.   
"He's a wuss." Unaji grinned, watching Preed leave. "Has no sence of humor."   
Azure grinned. "You don't know the half of it!"   
"Mabey that's for the best." Nane laughed, gliding across the ices surface. "Hey Azure, you still up to that race?"   
  
Rekk glided over to a sulking Preed, who was standing on the edge of the snow.  
Preed grumbled, "Jerks."  
Rekk rolled his eyes. "Come on. It's not impossible to stand on ice. I'll show you."  
Preed sighed and inched on to the ice, where he immediately began to slump over. Rekk grabbed Preed by the shoulders and lifted him up to a standing position.   
"Don't lean over, keep a balance," he said.  
Preed stuck his arms out to keep his balance and wobbled a little. Rekk slowly let go of his shoulders and Preed was standing shakily on the ice. He chuckled and grinned.   
Nane glided over to where Rekk and Preed were. "Trying to teach him to stand on ice ,eh? It helps to have a tail," she said swishing some snow with her tail "Or at least a sense of balance."   
  
Azure grinned hugely, somehow making her mouth wider. "Yeah! Let's go!" She took a starting position.   
  
Rekk explained to Preed how to move his feet, eventually skating. Slow, but gradually, Preed skated around a small area of the lake.   
Rekk clapped and said, "Kudos to you. Took me a week to learn that!"   
Preed smiled, almost smugly and started going faster.  
"Whoa! Hey! Watch it!" Azure yelped, zipping out of the way before being run down.   
  
"Right! But, I'm not that fast, got it?" Unaji smiled, going into a running like stance.   
"Alright." Azure smiled, taking her stance once more. "Ready?"   
"Ready."   
Rekk skated up to the two and stood to the side.  
He counted, "One... Two..."  
Azure and Unaji tensed up.  
"Two and a half."  
The two looked at him and rolled their eyes.  
"Sorry. THREE!"  
Azure shot off like a bullet from a gun. "Whhooooooo!"  
"Ak!" Unaji pushed of and got sprayed in the face by Azure's ice dust. Gritting her teeth she dug her feet into the ice and started off, gliding in long, graceful glides.   
Azure grinned, her eyes all of a suddenly got wide and she tried to stop, turning sideways and spraying ice, she fell on her side and slid across the ice backwards. She suddenly dissappeared and two thumps sounded, followed by an angry yell and another thump.   
Unaji glided past the fallen Azure, then tripped on her own feet and tumbled to the ice. Yelling she reached down and tried to push herself up, only succeding in knocking Rekk over.  
"What was that for?" She yelled, turning to Azure.  
Azure's head poked up from what seemed to be in the ice. "I fell...Down a....Waterfall thingy..." She said slowly, shaking her head, ears limply flopping.   
Preed grinned. "Who's falling now, oh Gracefull One?"   
  
"You know... we should freeze him in some ice. Then he'd shut up." Unaji said, propping herself up on on elbow and staring up at Preed. "Do you ever shut up?"   
"Let me think for a moment.....No." Preed said.  
Azure attempted to climb up the minature frozen waterfall, slipped and slid out of veiw. "Urg..."   
"That water fall looks cool." Unaji remarked, kicking out with a foot and knocking Preed over. "Ice is realy amazing..."   
"Ooof!" Preed fell flat on his face, he looked up and gave Unaji a nasty glare before getting to his feet.  
"Wasn't that fun Preed? Wanna do it again?!" She asked in a voice usualy reserved for talking to puupies and babies.  
Preed gave her a look that said 'No.' and then some. "Grrrrer..."  
"Awwwww does Preed need his nappy?"  
Preed growled louder, glareing viciously at Unaji.   
  
Azure reappeared over the edge of the ice. "HhI'm ho-kay!" She said, sounding drunken, she made an Ok sign with her fingers, jaw going off the the side as her eylids drooped. She dissapeared again.   
"Azure!" Unaji yelled, laughing as she remembered her friend. "Are you ok?"   
"Yeah...." Azure sounded faroff and dazed. "I'm fine." BRPreed continued to glare at Unaji.   
"That's good!" Unaji chirupt, getting up and slidding around on the ice. Preed snarled at Unaji and stalked off in the opposite direction. Azure lay sprawled out at the bottom of the mini-fall.   
"Bye Preedy!" Unaji said, laughing so hard that she fell down on her tail.   
  
Nane peered over the edge of the Ice fall "Are you ok?"  
Azure blinked, shook her head. "Yeah...Just takin' a little time out...Yeah..."   
Rekk slid carefully down the falls and helped Azure to her feet. Azure smiled and dipped her head lightly. "Thanks...Oooooo!" Azure grinned her insane grin and clambered up the bank beside the falls. "Hey guys! Check it out!" She hollered and flung herself rear first down the falls, sliding down them like a slide. "Alright! Mwu-ha-ha-ha-ha!"   
Rekk grinned and faced the others. "Now that's what I call improvisation."   
"Heh heh heh...."   
Preed looked up. "I don't like the sound of that...." "You shouldn't!" Whap! "Another one bites the dust! Mwu-ha-ha-ha-ha!!" Azure appeared, grinning like a maniac. "Pepsi kicks in you know?"   
Preed shook the snow off his shoulder and nodded. "Unfortunatly."   
  
Rekk began to trudge toward an area.   
"Speaking of Pepsi...", he mumbled.  
He reached into the snow and pulled out a six-pack of Pepsi.  
"Nice and frosty!", he yelled with a grin.  
Azure ran past him and shouted, "Toss me a cold one!"  
Rekk yanked a can from the pack and tossed it like a football towards Azure. She dove for the can and landed on the ground in a somersault. Raising fists in the air, she screamed "Yeeee-ha!"   
Preed looked at Unaji and Nane. He made a circling sign around his head, rolling his eyes.   
"TACKLE!"   
He was suddenly flung forward into the snow.   
"Mwu-hahaha! The insane Akrennian strikes again!" Azure laughed, quite definatly hyper.   
Preed spit snow out of his mouth. "What is in that stuff you drink?!?"  
Rekk stared down on Preed above his head. "A special little ingredient we call caffeine." He then laughed insanely.   
  
Azure began to run in circles. "Eagh! Dizzy!" She suddenly flung herself onto the ice and slid on her stomach. "Hah hah! Check it out!"  
Rekk chuckled and slid on his back, spinning. Azure took a running start, tucked her arms in front of herself and slid across the ice Penguin style.   
Rekk walked to the edge of the ice. "C'mon, Preed, get into it."  
The Akrennian stood with arms crossed sulking. "No, this is childish."  
Rekk titled his head and raised an eyebrow.  
Preed had a suspicious look on his face. "Don't you da-.."  
Rekk swung a leg over Preed's feet, sending him toppling to the snow. Rekk then grabbed one of Preed's legs, dragged him on the ice, and slid him spinning.   
Azure grinned, eyes alight. "Hee hee hee.."   
Preed began to lok slightly paler as he span around in circles. Azure smiled widely at him.   
"Azure don't you...Don't come any closer..." Preed groped about for something and came up with nothing. "Erk."   
Azure grinned and sent him spinning again.   
  
Nane carefilly scooted to the edge of the ice to get a beter look at the insanity below, but her caution was to now avail and she tumbled over the edge into a snowdrift, *thud*. "Aww geez! Cold cold cold cold! Aahaah!!!"   
Rekk and Azure stopped to help Nane to her feet. They then faced Preed, who was backing away.  
As Azure began to run towards him, Rekk stopped her and said in his sugar-induced insanity voice, "Perhaps... we should make him... one of us."  
Azure grinned at the idea and snickered mischeviously.  
Rekk sauntered towards Preed, reached into his pocket, and took out a can of Pepsi.   
Preed eyed the can suspiciously.  
Rekk opened the can and held it out to him.   
With a grin, he said, "Thirsty?"   
  
"No...Thank you, but no...." Preed backed away, lifting his hands. All the while he murmered to himself under his breath. "No sudden movements, back away until you're in sight of the ship..."   
Azure's eyes lit up, a very scary sight for one trying to escape. "Hee hee hee..."   
Preed's eyes zipped across the ground to her. She grinned, showing all her teeth.   
"Oh no..."   
Rekk gave Preed a frightening glance. "You'll like it." He held the Pepsi can out again.  
Preed, obviously seeing no escape, reluctantly took the can and sipped the Pepsi.  
His eyes widened and he looked at Rekk and Azure, who were grinning in victory.  
Casually, he said "...this stuff is good." With that, he chugged the entire can and belched.  
Rekk looked at Azure and gave her a high five.  
"Mission accomplished," Azure said.   
Azure grined insanely at Preed, grinning as she tilted her head to the side, ear's twitching almost spasmatically. "Wanna' 'nother 'n?" She asked.   
Preed nodded. "Suuuuuure."   
  
Rekk reached into his pocket and handed Preed another can. As he guzzled its contents, Rekk and Azure both noticed Preed began goofily giggling to himself.   
"Success! Mwahahahaha!" Azure laughed, hissing her S's. She slipped and fell over in a giggling fit. "Heeheeheehee!" She curled up in a ball, shaking.   
Rekk began ice skating in circles around Azure.  
"Alright, now, I am getting dizzy! Yee-ha!"  
Stumbling on one skate, he collapsed on the ground and began laughing hysterically.   
Preed staggered over and poked Rekk with his toe. "What're ya' laughing at...?"   
"I dunno'! Myeehheeheeheeheehee!" Azure giggled out, sputtering.  
  
Preed began laughing and break dancing on the ice.  
Azure gathered 20 snowballs and brought them on the ice. After this, she yelled "WHO SAID THE SNOWBALL FIGHT WAS OVER?"  
Rekk and Preed immediately got the hint and simultaneously rushed for the snowballs. Azure grinned....Just before being hit by two snowballs skillfully aimed at her head by Preed.   
"Yeerk!" She gather a few and threw them at anything that moved.   
  
Preed suddenly looked around."What the..?"   
A figure leaped heavly on him."Okay, where is it?" She said, twisting his ears.  
"Where's what!?" Preed screamed, trying to push Riya off him.  
"The Pepsi, beetlebutt!" She growled, sniffing the air."I thought I smelled caffeine...Oh, sweet caffiene! I must have it! I need pepsi!!!!"   
Preed gave an annoying growl. "Rekk has it! Now GET OFF."  
Riya immediately leapt off him and headed straight for the figure standing near.  
Rekk saw Riya moving at high speeds towards him, but didn't move. He took a Pepsi can out of his jacket and dangled it in front of Riya, who immediately stopped running and was in a trance for the caffeine. Rekk tossed the can in the air and Riya jumped sky-high to grasp it.   
She tore it open and gulped down the soda. "Mmmm...Nice and frosty! What!!"   
Kitt ran up and grabbed her tight."Gosh, Senna and I were looking all over for you!" Kitt stared at the crew."Sorry if she bothered you. She goes bonkers when she doesn't have any Pepsi, she's sort of addicted to it, really."  
"Huh? Where am I?" Riya mumbled, looking around frantically.  
"You attacked us for the Pepsi." Rekk said.  
"Oh yeah, that was refreshing... Addicted, Kitt? You're the one who has...er, a severe drinking problem!" Riya spoke, dusting herself off.   
  
"I've never seen anyone or anything get so hyped up on caffine, aww well, oooo hey! who wants Pepsi snow cones!" Nane said.  
Azure bounced in circles. "Caffine! Caffine! Oooooo! Sno cones! Yeeeeeaaahhhh!!" Azure cut loose with a deafening whoop.   
Preed looked slightly dazed, then contented himself with pelting everyone with snow balls. "Heh heh heh."   
A snowball pelted Riya. Riya's pupils dilated.   
Kitt backed up, staring at Preed."Uh-oh...You're gonna get it now! Get Riya mad...Geez, I don't even wanna think about it!"   
Riya advanced on Preed, a large snowball in hand."Heh,heh..." Riya said, heaving the snowball at Preed. Preed ducked....Only to be hit in the face instead of the chest.   
Azure grinned evily at Preed, gathered up another snowball and tossed it to Riya. "Give 'im blood 'n   
vinager! Bahahahaha!"   
"Now your talkin' my language, sister. Watch out Preed, we're gonna get ya!" Riya and Azure chased after Preed, snowballs in each hand. Azure laughed insanely.   
Preed, on the other hand, yelped and ran for his life. "Arak! Vandals!"   
  
Rekk stepped out of the ship with the Pepsi snow cones, and Preed winced and prepared to receive everyone's wrath, but stopped holding his breath when everyone began to run away. They each grabbed a Pepsi snow cone and munched. Preed, relieved, walked over and took one for himself.   
"Life saver, you are," he said to Rekk, who replied with "Huh?"   
  
"Cheese and crackers Mr. Monkey!" Azure suddenly shouted, then burst out laughing.  
Rekk snapped his head toward Azure. "...WITH JELLY!"   
Azure grinned widely. "And potatoes!"  
With eyes wide, Rekk grinned evilly and said "...wiiiith GRAVY!"  
Preed, even in his sugar-induced state, said "What the..."   
Azure grined hugely, continueing the line. "And Okra!"  
Preed laughed. "You two must have the lowest sugar tolerances in the universe."  
Azure and Rekk both turned to him, made their scariest faces, and let out a blood-curdling cackle. Preed, spooked, stumbled backwards.   
"And Pepsi." Rekk murmered.   
Preed's eyes grew wide as he backed up.   
"With pizza." Azure said, eyes staring straight at Preed.   
Rekk brought out a second round of Pepsi snow cones.  
"Feast again, droogs!"   
  
"What the..?" Riya said, staring at them quizzically."You guys are nuts, I'm going to drink some Pepsi." Riya took out a six-pack out of her sack.  
Rekk munched on the snow cone. "There's no wrong way to drink a Pepsi."  
Preed rolled his eyes. "You're thinking of Reese's."   
Nane crunched her Pepsi snowcone. "What's a Reeses?"  
Rekk smiled and said, "A snack food made of chocolate and peanut butter. Good stuff!"   
Kitt held up a orange bag."And it happens I have some extra king-size ones. Anybody want a Reeses?"   
Rekk sighed."Do you guys have everything?"  
Kitt nodded."We're nibblers, gotta have a snack."  
Rekk laughed and took one of the Reese's. "Understood. I'm that way with beverages of the carbonated species."  
Kitt nodded, passing the bag to Azure."Yeah. And Pepsi's our kingdom of life, the very essence of being."   
Azure, Kitt, Rekk, and Riya toasted with Pepsi cans, guzzling them down.   
  
"Ahhh...Feel the sugar flowing through you!" Azure grinned, downing her Pepsi.   
Nane was thankfull that sugar did not affect her sanity. She opened a Reeses pack and popped a peanut butter cup into her mouth. "Mmmmm, these things are great! Pepsi is still better though."  
"Yep. Ohh, wonderful Pepsi! I'd die without that ooh soo wonderful caffiene and sugar! So nice and frosty, feel the bubbles! Oooo, that's great!" Riya mumered as she reached for another can.   
"Bwa ha!" Azure burst out, she grinned sheepihly at Nane's shock. "Eh...Heh heh? Pepsi's the best!"   
Kitt reached for the last can, was getting ready to open it, until Riya snatched it away, popping it open.   
"Hey, that's mine!" Kitt snarled, tugging at the can.  
"Hey, Kitt...leggo!-grunt- What's wrong with you, too much caffiene?" Riya said between clenched teeth.  
Rekk grinned. "Simmer, both of you."  
He held his jacket upside-down and eight cans spilled out.  
Riya and Kitt both looked at him with a "You're obsessed!" look while Azure laughed at the situation.   
"Myeee hee hee hee hee!" Azure went into a giggling fit on the ice. "Pepsi foreeeveeeeeeer!"   
Preed gave her a strange look, stepped over her and snagged one of Rekk's Pepsi's.   
Rekk smiled. "Be back in a snap," he said, and ran into the ship.  
He returned a few moments later with a rather large stereo, two subwoofer speakers attached to either end. The stereo had yards of extension cords trailing behind it. He laid his jacket on the ground, and placed the stereo on it. The group looked oddly at the stereo has he pressed the "Play" button and Electrasy's "Cosmic Castaway" rang through the snowy fields. Azure's eyes snapped open, and she jumped up with a happy holler.  
  
"Waaaaaaah hoooooooo! Yeeeah!" Azure jumped up and down in joy. "I love this song!" She began to sing along to the lyrics, Preed gave her very strange look.   
Rekk nodded his head to the beat of song. As it faded, Azure eyed the stereo, and Rekk himself wondered what he had recorded on the mix next. A rush of guitar and vocals rapidly faded inwards, and Azure and Rekk looked at each other and shouted the first lyrics at the top of their lungs:   
"I'M IN OVER MY HEAD!"  
They both jumped repeatedly to the beat, as if they were at a concert.   
Preed was officially weirded out. He looked at them and backed away. "I'll just go over here now..."  
Azure grinned insanely at him. "No, you must listen to the music! Bwa ha!"   
  
Preed rolled his eyes, but payed attention to the music. "It is pretty catchy..."  
Rekk grinned. "Any requests, droog? I'll play a tune you want to hear!"  
Preed thought about it. "How about the guies that obviously named their band after me? Got 'Higher' by Creed?"  
Rekk grinned and nodded. "Certainly, certainly." He reached in his pocket, took out a disc, and put it in the stereo. The beginning guitar riffs to "Higher" made Preed smile and say "All riiiiight."   
"That's kinda' funny. Creed, Preed." Azure grinned.  
Preed grinned. "Isn't it? Who knows if it's a coincidence. Maybe my mother intended to name me Creed but made a typo on the birth certificate."  
Azure snickered. "Heh heh heh! Could be!"   
  
The last note of "Higher" struck and Preed raised both fists in the air and cheered. Rekk and Azure grinned.  
Rekk, putting the disc back in his pocket, looked around. "Any other requests?"  
  
Nane, who had been quietly sipping a Pepsi, shyly raised one hand. Rekk smiled. "What would you like to hear?"  
Nane said with a grin, "With Arms Wide Open, please? I heard it once and I loved it."  
Rekk and Azure smiled. "Absolutely," and Rekk took the Creed disc out of his pocket once more and put it in the stereo.  
  
As the song faded in, Nane, with a dreamy smile, swayed back and forth to the beat, and Preed tapped his finger and tried to mouth the words as best he could.  
"Well I just heard, the news today..." Azure sang along, softly.   
Rekk whispered the lyrics along with the song. "Seems my life... is gonna change."  
As the song droned in its melodic, legato chorus, the whole group, still under the influence of excessive sugar, stood still, gathered around the weathered stereo, and simply absorbed the music. Even Preed had an expression of deep thought on his face. Azure sat stock still, silently mouthing the words.  
  
"As tears of joy  
Stream down my face...  
With arms wide open  
Under the sunlight  
Welcome to this plae  
I'll show you everything  
With arms wide open...."  
  
Azure calmed as she listened, she crossed her legs and rested her head in her hands. Preed's eyes softened, showing something like regret, no one noticeing. Rekk sat casually, motionless and staring at thin air. In a complete trance, he continued whispering the lyrics.   
  
Preed glanced around himself, at his friends, the people who cared whether lived or died, the people he cared about in return...He thought of his old friends, Gune, Stith, Korso... He missed them. He'd betrayed them all. Why? Why'd I do it? I could have escaped the Drej at that moment, left with them. Why? Thoughts flashed through his head, his entire life playing itself out.  
Why?  
His thoughts, flashing through his head, at unbelievable speeds, were broken in an instant with "Preed? Hello?".   
His eyes wide open, he turned his head and saw Rekk. "Huh?," he said.  
Rekk said, "I said, do you want another Pepsi."  
Preed shook his head slowly. "Nah, that's all right."  
Rekk nodded. "...You all right, man? I may have fed you too much caffeine."  
Preed laughed quietly. "Nah, pal, I'm fine. Just been a wild night."   
  
"Hrm. Must be weirded by the Pepsi, usually you've got some....comment or another." Azure muttered, grabbing a Pepsi. She popped it and chugged down the contents.   
"Ahhh..." Preed frowned, ear twitching once as his eyes went half lidded. I cant tell them what I did. They'd...They'd want nothing to do with me. He watched as Azure grinned and turned up the volume on the stereo, Rekk headbanging to it.   
  
"It's my time to fly!  
I'm prooving ground tonight  
Try to be the best that I can be  
Only Human can understand  
I fill my lungs with fear and I exhale.  
  
It's my time to fly!   
Father be with me tonight!   
Oooooooo! I'm right on target!"  
  
Preed shook his head. No. They never need to know.  
  
Rekk joyously headbanged to the tune. Nane laughed and clapped along. Soon, though, freezing winds wisped around and all were shivering.   
Preed, still expressionless, said "What do you say we get inside?"  
They all agreed and trudged back inside the ship. The door slammed shut and Azure was the first to bring up what they would do to continue the nocturnal fiesta.  
"What say we watch a movie?" She said with a smile.  
Everyone looked at each other and nodded in agreement.  
Rekk said, "I've got some flicks in my room, let's go see what there is to rummage through."  
They all headed towards the room, but Preed stopped Rekk in his tracks.  
  
"Um, listen," he said, "I've been thinking about stuff, and if I was ever a jerk to any of you lately, I prob'ly didn't know about it, and I'm sorry for anything jerkish I did. I know Azure doesn't like me, but I don't know why. I kinda realized you guies are great friends and I'll just do anything not to seem like a jerk... Yeah."  
  
Rekk looked at the Akrennian. For the first time to Rekk's knowledge, Preed looked like he truly meant it.  
"Listen," Rekk said, "I can't speak for everybody else, but to me, you're anything but a jerk. Know what I mean? You're evidently being too hard on yourself. The ship would be quite dull if you weren't here. I think everyone, even Azure, is rather glad you're around."  
A warm smile formed on Preed's face.  
  
"Besides," Rekk continued, "who else do we pick on during snowball fights?"  
  
They both laughed as the others returned from Rekk's room with a movie in hand.  
Azure grinned evily. "Ahhh...and the movie is...Bambi!" She got several very odd looks. "Just kiddin'!" She tossed the video to Rekk.   
Rekk and Preed looked at the video.   
"The Haunting," Rekk said, "fantastic choice!"  
Preed said, "W'sat?"  
"Scary movie."  
The group trodded to the projector screen and Rekk began the movie. Azure claimed a corner of the couch immediatly, defending it from any who dared to try to take it.   
  
Rekk dove into the easy-chair, and also, growled at anyone who walked within 12 inches of it. Preed sat at the end of the sofa closest to the easy chair and asked Rekk,   
"Any more soda? My eyelids are heavy."  
Rekk grinned. "Reach down to the side of the sofa and rip the fabric aside."  
Preed turned to Azure, who nodded.  
He leaned over and clawed at the fabric. He soon saw the side of the sofa was actually an openable flap held closed by velcro. As soon as he opened it, dozens of soda cans poured out on to the floor.  
Preed laughed heartily. "You're insane!"  
Rekk smiled and nodded. "That's what they say."   
  
Azure barked with hysterically insane laughter. "Ba ha! You should see Hoth when he sits there! 'Is this seat hard or am I just imaginin' it?' Hee hee heee! They'll never know! Myee hee hee!"   
Rekk grinned and sipped the drink.  
The movie began and Rekk clapped twice loudly, which made the lights quickly shut off.  
Preed rolled his eyes. "Are you that lazy?"  
Azure then clapped twice loudly, and the movie's volume turned up. She moved her head to give him a sideways stare. "Any more questions?"   
Preed shook his head.   
"Good boy."  
  
Preed decided to try his luck. He clapped twice loudly, and the sofa, in an instant, turned into a bed, sending everyone sitting there tumbling to their backs. Randomly, he said, "Now, that's pretty creative."  
Azure twisted to glare at Preed, turned, clapped loudly twice and removed a pillow from the wall. "*Whump!*" "Okay, I'm happy now." She declared.   
Rekk said eagerly, "Who wants popcorn?"  
Azure's ears shot up, and she said in a sudden outburst, "ME ME ME ME ME ME!!"  
Preed looked oddly at Azure. "I'll have some, but give us seperate bowls. Yeesh."  
Azure and Preed both offered to make the popcorn, but Rekk pushed them both back onto the couch. "Sit. Stay. Enjoy the movie, and let me do all the work." With that, he ran into the kitchen.  
  
Preed nervously glanced over to Azure. He wanted to apologize for anything mean he had done, but didn't know how. She'll think I'm joking. How am I supposed to sound serious? He sighed heavily and turned his eyes back to the movie.   
  
"Heh heh...The gatekeeper looks like the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland..." Azure said, cramming herself into a corner and curling up there, any stray limb intruding in her designated area was immediatly kicked away.   
Rekk returned with a tray, filled with bowls of popcorn. "Extra butter! Feast up, all."   
Everyone took one. Preed sat motionless on the couch with the trance-like look he had had before. Rekk snapped in front of his face and he came to. "Huh?"   
Rekk said, "Look. Popcorn. Delicious. Eat."  
Preed slugglishly grabbed a bowl and blankly ate the contents.   
Rekk looked concerned, "Uh... you positive you're okay?"  
"Snore!" Riya said, falling asleep.  
  
"I wonder what's gotten into him..." Nane murmured to Rekk "He seem so um...for lack of better word, blank, right now, you've known him for longer than I have, is this normal for him?"   
Preeds ears pricked up "Huh? what? someone say my name?"  
"Uh no Preed, um I was just saying uh...what time is it?"  
Riya jumped awake."Huh!? What's wrong with Preed!?" She yelled, looking around.   
After Preed turned back to the movie, Rekk whispered back to Nane, "I have no clue. You think maybe his first sugar rush screwed him up?"  
"Nah, he'd be bouncing off the walls if this weird mood was caused by sugar."  
"Spose you're right. In that case, I haven't a clue what it is."   
Riya snorted."I say he's just plain retarded, crazy, and nuts."   
Preed heard the comment and had a half-angry, half-hurt look on his face.   
  
Riya's ears drooped as everyone stared hotly at her."Oopsies. Er, I'm sorry Preed, I didn't mean it...Just...um, a friendly sort-of joke. Heh, heh?" Riya rested her hand on Preed's shoulder, friendlier than she had even been to him before. Preed nodded at Riya.  
  
Azure rolled her eyes. "Even if he was, who cares? I think I'm a tad crazy."  
Rekk added, "I know I'm insane."  
  
Riya had a bewildered look. "Yeah, but... look at him, though."  
Preed tried to concentrate on the movie.  
Rekk said, "It's probably just a bad sugar trip, he'll be fine in the morning. Right, dude?"  
He tapped Preed on a shoulder and the Akrennian said awkwardly and quietly, "Yeah... I'm fine."   
  
Riya rolled her eyes comically."Sugar trip? I have a whole gallon of Pepsi a day, and basically candy crap, and look at me, I have more sanity then him!" Riya pointed a quavering finger at Preed.   
Rekk shrugged. "Everybody's got different sugar tolerances."   
Riya folded her arms."You know, I suddenly regret everything that I said, Preed." Riya said, thunking Preed on the head lightly with her empty Pepsi can.  
Preed nodded and grinned, and said, "Thanks", but still in the blank tone of voice. BR  
Riya gave Preed her famous "One of us is going to end up dead someday, and it won't be me." look, then turned back to the movie. Nane crouched next to the couch/bed thing almost asleep, the slight..very slight sugar run she was on was at an end and she had woken up very early that moring, or was it yesterday morning now? she wasn't shure anymore. Rekk and Azure saw Nane snoozing.  
Rekk got up and gently shook Nane until her eyes fluttered.  
"Hey," he whispered, "sorry to wake you up, but there's a much more comfortable guest room if you want to go there."  
Nane smiled and nodded.   
Azure gave Preed an odd look, twisting an ear behind her head and tugging on it out of habit she frowned and leaned over to look at Rekk. "I think there is something wrong, he'd probably have quipped somethin' or another by now..." She whispered, carefull not to let Preed catch her.   
  
Rekk glanced at Preed, who indeed was acting awfully abnormal.  
"Maybe he just needs to catch some Z's", Rekk said.  
Rekk tapped him on the shoulder, and he blankly looked up.  
"You look entirely exhaustd," Rekk said, "Perhaps you'd best collapse on the bed, hmm?"  
  
***  
  
Nane walked down the hallway, taking Rekks suggestion. She opened the dor labeled guest room and made a bee line for the bed she sighed as she flopped onto her side and adjusted her long legs in preparation for sleep. It had been awhile since she last had a decent place to sleep for a night and she was grateful for it.  
  
***  
  
Perhaps.." Preed muttered, walking out the room.   
"Geez...He's got somethin' wrong." Azure shook her head. "Maybe he'll be back to his old self tommorrow."   
Rekk nodded. "Hopefully.. You think there's something on his mind, though?"   
"Possibly, I dunno, I haven't seen him in more than five years ya' know." Azure shrugged. the movie was at the part where the ghost children where trying to contact...That one girl.   
Rekk shrugged. "As for now, I'm just guessing he was corrupted a little too much and needed to get some rest." He grinned, and Azure nodded.  
Azure nodded. "Yeah, probably. Eh, let's just leave 'im alone for a while and let him get over the Pepsi overdose." She looked at the TV.   
"Agreed," Rekk said.  
They both returned to the projector screen.  
Azure said, "What's on TV this late?"  
Rekk thought about it. "I'm not sure... I think they play some good music videos, though."   
  
"Hmm..." Azure clicked the channel to The Box, the begining of Pink's 'Every Girl' was playing. "Everyone okay with this?"   
Rekk grinned. "Certainly!"  
As he would when watching any music video, Rekk often focused vividly on the video's cinematography and direction, saying such things as "Excellent color choice" or "Nice cinematography in that scene!" Azure's head bobbed up and down to the tune.   
  
Rekk nodded at the tune. "Quite catchy."  
Azure agreed and smiled.  
  
As the video faded out, a new one came on, and at first, it was complete darkness. Then, small flashes of light showed a bundle of wires that the camera was moving along. Rekk's eyes widened as the video's credits confirmed what he thought it was. Bjork's "All Is Full Of Love". As the song began, it showed a futuristic, white laboratory, and robotic machinery operating on a peaceful, sleeping robot, which revealed to have Bjork's face.  
  
The song, a wonderful combination of low-trebled and boldly ambient electronic rhythms and aquatic melodies, aligned with Bjork's satin, legato vocals, which the robot sang in animatronic grace.  
  
Rekk sat spellbound, eyes fixed on the screen. It had been almost a year since he had seen the very music video that artistically expanded his imagination a hundred fold the first time he laid eyes on it. Azure, who had never witnessed the video, was also motionless at what she saw.  
  
The robot sang boldly to a second robot that appeared, asking it to take her hand. The song began to slowly louden with electronic cymbals rushing upwards like ocean waves. A bright flash of light covered everything in the video and Bjork's singing rang out with the electronic orchestra: "All is full of love!" as the two robots knelt on a laboratory table in a romantic embrace.  
  
Rekk found himself swaying to the song and singing along with Bjork as the orchestra continued. He was in a musical trance.   
Awesome." Azure said, blinking.   
Rekk, still dazed by the trance the video had put him in, nodded and said "Beautiful stuff... I'd kill to direct that kind of art."   
"Hmm...Hey...Anyone wanna' make a music video? We can film 'em ourselves if we can get a hold of a camera. Heh, we could film the ship, walkin' down the hallways or sumthin'." Azure grinned.   
Rekk thought. "Whatever happened to that crummy old camcorder I got at the market?"  
Azure said, "I didn't throw it away. Maybe it's still in your room."  
"Could be. Let's go find out."  
  
They walked to Rekk's room, tiptoeing as they passed the guest room so as not to wake Nane.  
  
When they got to Rekk's room, he pulled open a drawer and swiped a massive pile of CD's aside to reveal a gray, scratched camcorder, with batteries fully charged. Rekk and Azure grinned.   
  
"Heh heh heh...Let's get some lights, I can rig up some flash lights and I think we still have that one huge floodlight...We've got a good music selection." Azure grinned. "I'll get my Cd's so we can pick though 'em." She said, trotting off silently.   
Rekk grabbed his 200-CD book and tiptoed behind Azure to find lights. They gathered different lamps and mechanical lamps and set them up in the control center. Rekk found a tripod and put the camera on it.   
Azure grinned, heading for her room and returning with all her Cd's.   
"Lessee...What song should we do? somethin' that'd fit with darkness, nothin' too gushy though. Hmmm...Hey...Maybe we can hook a wire from the Control Room to the end of the hall...And zip the camera down it!" Azure's grin somehow got wider, although up until that point it had seemed immpossible  
  
Rekk grinned. "That's an awesome idea. You ought to be a director." He flipped through his CD's.   
"Hhmmm...No, no and...No." Azure discarded most of the Cd's from her small pile.   
Rekk flipped through the pages of his CD book. "It's almost impossible to pick just one."  
Azure said, "Who said we had to pick just one song?"  
"Say what?"  
"Let's make it a multi-songed video!" Azure said with an excited grin.  
"That would make the choices easier..."   
"Hee hee this one?" Azure held up a CD.   
"Sure." Rekk replied with a grin.   
  
With a soft crackle, the comm unit on the far wall flickered to life.   
"Boo," Jo whispered, grinning through the viewscreen at Azure and Rekk.   
"Hi Jo!" Azure grinned. "We're makin' a music video. What you up to?"   
Rekk grinned. "Boo yourself. What're you doing up this late?"   
  
"Sounds like a blast!" Jo enthused, smiling a little wistfully. "Meanwhile, I'm stuck on Soros waiting for my contact to show up. He's always late," she griped. "Just trying to pass the time. By the way, you two have any idea what's up with Preed? He's the one who transferred my call here. He seemed a little... off."   
"Uh uh, not really, we corrupted him with Pepsi but thats all I can think of." Azure shrugged frowning. "Been like that for a while, I figured 'Leave 'im alone and he'll be back to normal tommorrow'."  
Rekk nodded. "Probably just a bad sugar trip."  
"Pepsi, eh?" Jo smirked. "Potent stuff, that. And here I thought it was something I might've said. You know," she added, her brow furrowing, "I do remember mentioning Joseph in passing while I was on the line with him... You've heard of Captain Korso, yes? Well, the moment I mentioned his name, Preed got all tight-lipped and twitchy. Odd seeing him act that way. But, uh, maybe it's nothing, eh?" she finished with a little shrug.   
  
"I dunno." Azure shrugged as well, shaking her head. "Maybe it's because it's late?"  
Rekk continued flipping through his CD's. "I suppose we'll see how he is in the morning. I've got to say, though, I've seen first-time corruptions before and that definitely isn't how one would act."   
"Could be. He was always something of a night owl, though," Jo remarked. "Korso always said -- Oh, good evening, Vishkai," she crooned, turning offscreen. She continued in the most sincere tone she could muster, bowing graciously to her contact. "Punctual as ever, I see! May I buy you a drink? No? Down to business, then. If you'll just excuse me a moment..." She turned back to Azure and Rekk. "Hey, I gotta jet," she whispered. "Catch ya two later!"   
Azure nodded. "See ya'." She tossed another CD into the pile of discards.   
Jo grinned and switched off the comm.   
Rekk grinned and waved bye.  
  
Azure said, "Have we got all the songs we need?"  
Rekk reviewed their choices. "I think so..."   
"This'll be awesome." Azure grinned. "We'll need some more props...I'll go get some sheets and stuff."   
Rekk grinned. "I'll get some smoke machines and lighting effects."  
He searched in his room and found various colors of cellophane and smoke machines and strobe lights he had used at band gigs.   
Azure ran to her room, returning with sheets, blankets, some masks and some makeup she'd never even opened. "Kay....Anything else we'll need--Akk! Wire! We need wire and probably some more stuff like that to rig the camera."   
  
Rekk borrowed some wire from the surviellance cameras in the control room. Azure and he configured the wires and the camera flickered to life.  
  
"Are we both agreed on the Edward Scissorhands theme for the beginning scene?" Azure asked, to which Rekk nodded.  
  
Azure hung the pale, white sheets over the windows and Rekk configured the camera. "How are you gonna do this?" she asked.  
  
Rekk said, "Well, I thought I'd mist up the floor, and have a fan make the curtains flutter. Kind of a real cold, dark, winter-like atmosphere. To enhance that, it'll probably be in slow motion."  
  
"Sounds neat," Azure said, looking over the windows, "...no people in this scene?"  
"I hadn't thought of that."  
"How about someone just standing eerily in front of the windows, kind of like a ghost?"  
Rekk's eyes widened. "Scarier, the better. Who should the ghost of honor be, though?"  
"Why not Preed?"  
  
Rekk and Azure walked over to Preed's room, where the door was half-open and a radio was quietly blaring. Rekk creaked open the door and Preed was laying in bed, counting the holes in the ceiling pattern. His eyes slowly glazed over to the door.  
"What's up?", he asked, still in the monotonous voice.  
Rekk grinned. "Want to be a ghost?"  
  
***  
  
Preed looked down at the long white robe and wondered how he'd let himself be talked into this.   
"Hold still.." Azure frowned, brandishing the brush which she was painting his face white with. "I dun' wanna' poke you in the eye you know...."   
He sighed and frowned at her. "Who said I wanted to be white?"   
"You hafta' be, now hold still or I *will* hit you in the eye..."   
  
Rekk, while looking through the camera, said, "Preed, move a tad to the right... perfect. Don't move."BR  
"Yup."  
  
Azure stood by the lighting controls, which were turned off, ready to make them seem as if flickering.  
Riya had one finger on the strobe light's power button. "Hurry up," she said, to which Rekk and Azure simultaneously replied "Patience."  
  
Rekk hopped over the mass of wires and turned on the fan, which made the curtains and Preed's robe wave in a ghostly manner. He then turned on the smoke machine, and a haunting mist covered the control room's floor.  
Azure said, "All right, guies, here goes nothing. Talk all you want because the music's gonna go over any recorded sound, anyway."  
  
Rekk pressed the Fader button on the camcorder, and then, pressed "Record". From a black screen faded in the captured image and Rekk yelled, "GO!"  
  
Azure began flickering different lights, dimming and brightening them, while Riya turned the strobe light on and off randomly.  
  
Preed stared out the window, ghostly white robes fluttering in the fan. The curtains rose and fell with the wind. Preed felt like shivering, having been relieved of his boots. Azure changed the color of the lighting to blue, making the scene seem sadder...Quieter...Lonelier. Preed tucked his hands in the long sleeves of the robe and dipped his head a bit.   
Azure nodded. "Perfect. You're doin' fine Preed."   
  
Azure dimmed and brightened the pale blue lights, continuing the flickering effect, and Preed let the robe airily ripple in the wind. Fully into the character, he swayed his head very slowly in a lifeless manner. Rekk grinned as he saw the scene through the camera's eyepiece. "Preed, you're a natural," Rekk said.   
Riya also made a flickering effect by turning the strobe lights on and off at random times, at different levels of brightness.  
After two minutes, Rekk was convinced that, even when in slow-motion, there was enough for the first scene of the video. He looked at Azure for confirmation.   
"Enough?"  
She nodded, and Rekk pressed the camcorder's Standby button. "Cut! Excellent, everybody!"  
Preed threw off the robe and shivered. Rekk and Azure went up to Preed.  
Rekk said, "You're a natural! You ought to be an actor!"  
Azure said, "I must say, you did a great job. Very ghost-like!"  
Preed, who seemed as if he was still in his ghostlike character, dreamily smiled and said, "Thanks, you two."  
  
Azure smiled and nodded. "Lets get ready for the next song then!" Azure finished rigging the camera to a wire that streched down the hall. "Okay, you got the directions down Preed?"   
"Yeah..."   
"Alright, places!" Azure yelled, turning on the very dim lights along floor of the hall, it was almost black but would give off enough for them to see what they were doing. The camera had two flashlights on either side of it. She quickly ducked into a doorway and waited for Preed to walk past her.   
  
Rekk ran into his room for a short while. He walked back with eyes closed. He stopped in the middle of the set and stood still.  
  
Azure walked up to him. "Okay, I'll play along. Why are your eyes closed?"  
Rekk motioned with one hand to lean closer. Azure did so.  
He then snapped his eyes wide open and displayed a demonic grin. His eyes were completely ghost-white except for piercing black pupils.  
  
Azure shouted, "WHOA!!!" and jumped back in surprise.   
Preed did the same.  
Rekk grinned. "Appropriate for the next scene, no?"   
"Cool!" Riya said, who didn't jumped back in suprise. Poking Rekk in the eye, Riya grinned evilly."You could scare a lot of people with that...effectively!"  
Rekk rubbed his eye. "These things aren't cheap. Careful."  
Azure said, "Alright, are we ready to do this scene?"  
Rekk and Preed nodded.  
Rekk said, "Everyone, tell me if this sounds good. A kind of fast-paced scene with Azure, Preed, and myself walking down a hallway, making the scariest wide open eyes possible in darkness that occasionally is lit up by a strobe light now and then."  
Azure said, "Later, in editing, we'll make all the eyes even brighter, so as to make them look a tad freakier. Any complaints?"  
Everyone seemed to agree to the idea.  
  
"Okay," Riya said."Ready everyone?"  
They all nodded.  
Rekk said, "Riya, just move the camera backwards along with you at a steady pace and don't wobble. It's easy."  
Riya nodded. "Alright, let's do this."  
  
Rekk pressed the Record button and ran back in front of the camera. Riya began to move the camera backwards and Rekk, Preed, and Azure began walking down the hallway, at the same speed as the camera. It was dark, and the strobe light occassionally flashed, but the three of them didn't flinch and kept their eyes open and piercing.  
  
After approximately a minute of walking, Riya pressed the Standby button.   
Azure said, "Is that going to be enough?"  
"Probably. What we could do is take the same clip and do variations of it."  
  
Preed trodded over. "Was I okay? If I screwed up, I can do it over again."  
Rekk grinned. "No need for that, you did very well!"  
Azure added, "Agreed. You've got a knack for music videos."   
  
"Hmm, that's great, what's next, guys?" Riya clenched the camera, tapping a foot patiently. "I know! Let's do funny videos...You know, with mistakes? It would be great!" Riya chirped suddenly.   
Azure grinned. "Sound like fun! Lemme' get another tape!" She ran off in the direction of her room.  
Azure came back, and passed the tape to Riya.  
Riya popped it in the camera, turning to everyone and looking through the lens."Okay everyone! Action! Err, do something...funny."   
  
Azure looked around. "Uh...Heh heh."   
Preed looked confused. "Funny?"   
"Preed? You know what? You look like you're weari' a dress. I just realized that...." Azure looked at the robe. Preed scowled at her.  
Azure shrugged. "Cheese and crackers Mr. Monkey!" She suddenly burst out.   
"What!?" yelled Riya, eyes wide. She suddenly fell to the floor, shaking with laughter. Getting up, she looked once more through the lens."Okay, that was...er, okay. Rekk hold the camera." Riya walked over in camera view, and did something truly amazing and humorous.   
  
Azure grinned. "Cheese and crackers with jelly!"  
Preed jerked a thumb at her, muttering to the camera. "I do not know this person."   
"That's right! Ya' don't." Azure said.   
"Yeah, and nobody knows who you are..." Riya scoffed, smirking, back under the camera.   
Preed frowned at them and crossed his arms.  
Rekk nudged Preed. "Ignore her. Az and I know darn well who you are, and it's two against one." Preed grinned.  
Rekk whispered, "Watch this."  
  
Rekk ran in front of the camera. "I'm putting some old Red Hot Chili Peppers over this." He opened his eyes wide and began wildly screaming and headbanging in every way possible.   
  
Azure looked at Preed blinked and joined Rekk. "Myeehee hee! Try it guys!"   
Preed looked at Riya and lifted an eyebrow. "Shall we then?"   
Preed somersaulted on the floor into the camera's view and began headbanging while thrashing this way and that, and screaming oddly. Azure acted as if she was possessed and wriggled on the floor in a humorous way. Riya spun in circles goofily.  
  
"MMeeeeeeyyyyaarrrgh!" Azure yelled, wriggling along the floor then doing a half-way flip.   
Rekk signaled for everyone to back up, and then they all ran towards the camera, jumped in the air, and landed on one knee with a last frenzied scream. Rekk, looking quite insane, upon landing on his knee, screamed "PEPSI FOREVER!!!" and pretended to collapse on the floor in a seizure.   
Riya ran behind the camera and clicked the "Standby" button.  
Preed laughed heartily. "I needed that."   
"I know the feeling..." Azure shook her head and was swaying from side to side dizzily. "Head banging equals dizziness. Yes...." She leaned on the wall, blinking owlishly.   
  
Rekk raised a concerned eyebrow at Azure. "You look dazed.. Maybe you'd better lie down."  
Azure shook her head and still swayed while leaning against the wall.  
"Music video stars aren't supposed to lose consciousness in the middle of the shoot," he grinned. "Please lie down for a few moments, it's good for a head rush"   
"Nah, 'tis okay, I'll live." She grinned, starting to regain her balance.   
  
Azure said, "Rekk, remember that snow scene with Bittersweet Symphony idea you had?"  
Rekk nodded.  
"How about we try it, see how it comes out."  
Rekk grinned. "It's worth a shot."  
  
Azure hooked on the camera's battery cartridge and the group all shuffled outside, and trudged back to the frozen lake. Rekk brought the pairs of ice skates and the stereo, along with the Verve's album.  
  
"Alright. Here's the idea as it ran in my head. It's subject to change and suggestion. Azure, Preed, and myself all skate casually in synchronization when the drums come in. Riya, if you would work the camera, it'd be great."  
  
Preed shyly raised a hand. "Question?" Rekk asked.  
"Yeah," Preed said, "how are we supposed to skate. Any particular type?"  
Rekk thought about it. "A ghost taking a stroll on an ice lake."  
They all grinned and nodded.  
  
Riya readied the camera and was ready to skate along with the three.  
  
Rekk clicked the "Play" button on the stereo and hurried back to the edge of the ice. "Just roll the camera," he said to Riya, "I can edit out the excess stuff later." Riya pressed the "Record" button and pointed it towards the three of them.  
  
The orchestra faded in with the repeating riff, and when the soft drum line came in, Rekk, Preed, and Azure took off at the same pace, as did Riya. They all sported expressionless looks and tried to skate as agile as was possible. They then all turned around and swayed to the beat, still with ghostly, expressionless looks.  
  
Azure had captured a sheet from the window scene and had tied it like a cloak, hiding her face although it was almost see through. It floated behind her as she lowered her head and skated about. Preed's expression remained emotionless as he made curving almost-figure-eights.   
  
Rekk looked as ghostly as he best could, with his hands behind his back, while mouthing along to the lyrics and swaying his head lifelessly. The song faded out and the three of them stopped skating.  
Rekk and Azure immediately shot amazed looks at Preed. "You learned to skate not five hours ago, how did you do those crazy figure-eights?"   
Preed blushed with a "Shucks, t'was nothing." expression.   
  
Azure shrugged as her 'cape fluttered. "Akkness, I'm wet." She muttered, the cape was indeed drooping and wet, especially at the edges. "Hrm. Ahh well. I was planning on the couch anyways..." The others gave her strange looks. "What?! I like the couch better than I do my bed, so what?" Preed looked at Rekk, they shrugged and started skating off the lake. Azure followed, frowning.   
  
Azure threw the cape in the corner. "What's so weird about me liking a couch better than a bed?"  
Rekk said, "Nothing weird to me. I know I love a good collapse-and-snooze on the sofa now and then."  
Azure smiled. "I'm not alooone!" She grinned trotting off to her room once again, returning with a patched quilt and her pillow. "I claim couch!" She yelled, running headlong for the rec. room.   
Rekk grinned. "As you wish."  
  
As he trodded towards his own room, something bright caught his eye as he walked past the large windows in the control center. He glanced out and witnessed the largest and grandest display of Aurora he had ever seen. Waves of purple, blue, white, and silver wisped over as far as he could see.  
  
"Az, come here and look at this..." Rekk said, completely bewildered.   
Azure came back up the hall, minus her pillow and quilt. "What is--Oh wow." Her eyes got wider as she looked at the Aurora. "Beautifull..."   
Rekk ran to his room and came back with his camera. Eyes never taken off the beautiful display, he snapped five pictures of the aurora, in every angle they could see it from the window.  
  
Azure said, "Not every day you see something like that."  
Rekk nodded. "Always wanted to see an aurora up close."  
  
They heard footsteps down the hall.  
Preed said, "What are you guies looking at?"  
Rekk grinned and walked over.  
He said to Preed, "Close your eyes and walk down the hall. Keep them closed."  
Preed did so, and when they reached the window, Rekk turned Preed toward the display and said "Open wide."  
  
Preed opened his eyes, and immediately widened them. His jaw fell at what he saw. "Wow." Was all the shocked Akrennian could say.   
"Too true." Azure replied.   
  
Rekk said, "I'm gonna get some blue filters for the camera. Be right back." He ran down the hall and Azure and Preed could hear him digging through the piles in his room.  
  
Azure's eyes were fixed on a blue wave of aurora that seemed to stretch across the whole universe. Its edges were flecked white like a trail of snowflakes.  
"It's incredible," she said softly.  
  
Preed glanced over and swallowed a lump in his throat.  
He thought he would begin stuttering, but pressed ahead.  
"Uh, listen," he said blankly, "I know I've annoyed you a lot lately, and I probably thought it was funny when I did it, but I just wanted to tell you, I'm sorry for any mean stuff I did. I mean... you, Riya, Rekk, Nane... everybody, you guies are great, and I shouldn't be a jerk. I kind of realized tonight how lucky I am... that's it."  
  
Azure looked at him as if that was the last thing she would have thought he'd say. For a minute, she was speechless.  
"Is that why you've not been yourself tonight?"  
  
Preed stopped in the middle of a breath, and hesitated before answering "I suppose so."  
  
Azure sighed. "No one thinks you're a jerk, Preed. I mean, at times you've been a little obnoxious, but who hasn't been? I'm glad you've seen what you did, though. And, as for us, we all consider ourselves lucky to have you around too. I know Rekk thinks you're really cool, I know I think you're really cool, and I'm almost positive everyone else thinks you are. So don't worry about it. We all know you're A-okay."  
Preed smiled warmly and sighed in relief and happiness. He couldn't stop the grin from forming across his face as he watched the aurora sweep across the night sky.  
  
Rekk ran back with a box of filters and fiddled with the camera. Azure sorted through the filters, asking what each one did.  
  
Preed, still smiling, said, "Hey, you two, this was a really great night. Thanks for making it happen."  
Rekk and Azure both smiled back at him. "Anytime."   
  
Azure smiled. "Now, whos up for hot cocoa? Mind you I don't make it from scratch but..."   
"Sure!" Riya said suddenly."I could try to wean off my habit of drinking a load of Pepsi before my caffiene level drops like heck. I'll go nuts."   
Rekk grinned at the thought of cocoa. "Sounds great!"  
Preed added, "Sure, I'll go for some."   
  
Everyone sat down drinking cocoa, and talking."So, how do you think the videos came out?" Asked Azure.   
Preed shrugged. "Why not find out? Hmm?"   
"For once, knowing you, that's is greatest idea you've come up with." Riya said, popping the tape in the vcr.   
Preed lifted an eyebrow at Riya, a slight glare creeping into his eyes.. "Are you against me or something? Hmm?"  
Azure rolled her eyes. "Let's just watch the video? Or I'll...I'll....Bash ya' both with pillows!"   
"Oh my, pillows. How dreadfully terrifying."   
"Whapwhapwhap!"   
"Erk."   
"You were saying Preed?"  
  
Azure looked around. She hit the stop button on the VCR. "What say you guys we have a pillow fight?" She asked, still looking slightly insane.   
A mischevious grin slowly formed on Rekk's face. He ran into his room and came back with an armful of pillows, and tossed one to everybody.   
Azure grinned as well. "Okay! On the count of--Whap!"   
"Akk! Ok! You asked for it!" Azure thwacked Rekk. "Mwa ha!" She cackled loudly.   
  
Rekk spun around in circles, holding the pillow out, which hit anything it touched. He stopped and eyed Preed, and the two began a pillow battle that resulted in Rekk pinning Preed to the ground and whacking him repeatedly with the pillow. Azure then took a flying leap and tackled Rekk. Riya attacked Preed. All involved were cackling insanely.   
  
Azure hopped from foot to foot in a bird like way, Rekk took a swipe at he rlegs which she jumped above. "Wow! I didn't think I could actualy do that!" She grinned, then was hit by Rekk's pillow. She shook her head blinking oddly. "Heh heh."  
Rekk laughed crazily. "Ah ha! Victory is mi-.."  
Before he could finish the sentence, Preed brought his pillow down on Rekk's head and giggled.   
Riya crackled evilly, bopping Preed on his head contuniously."I've been waitin' to this for awile! Fell my wrath!!!"   
  
Azure grinned, quite insanely, and ran at Rekk, whipping her pillows around her head as if it was a sword and not a 'harmless' pillow. "Yeeeyeeeyeeeyeeeyeee!" Azure trilled and slammed Preed on her head, bringing her pillow down to hit Rekk. "Myeeeheeeheeheeee! Gotyerz!"   
Riya brung her pillow down, getting Azure."Hah! Gotyerz, now! Ooofh!" Riya fell on Azure as Rekk plowed into her.   
Everyone heard Preed scream "DOGPILE!" and tried to roll out of the way before, using his pillow to break his fall, plunged on everybody.   
  
Azure made a mad scramble for the couch, leaping onto it and bouncing twice. "Bonziiiiiiiii!" She leapt off, eyes alight with insanity.   
Riya did a double-flip in midair, screaming insanely."Look out below! Yiiiii!!!   
Azure looked up, her eyes growing wide as her ears lay flat against her head. "Eeek."   
Rekk and Preed grabbed on to a pipe on the ceiling, and somersaulted in the air when letting go of it.   
Azure looked up. "This is gonna' hurt." She whimpered.   
  
Riya, who had successfully fell with a thump on Azure, looked up and gasped, waving her hands."Noo, stop!" She tried to scatter out of the way, but was too slow.   
  
Rekk and Preed moved their feet and narrowly avoided Azure and Riya. Everyone sighed.  
Azure said, "I don't know about any of you, but I'm anxious to see how the video came out."  
They all nodded.  
Rekk said, "Well, we've got to edit it first and put the music over. Shall we?"  
  
The group sauntered to Rekk's room with the filmed footage. Rekk opened a cabinet to reveal a mass bundle of electronic equipment, with two video screens and what looked like a mixing board. He put the film in, and said "Everyone puts in their two cents. Want me to do a crazy effect? Tell me, and it's done." The group gathered around. Azure said, "The music goes over first, correct?" "Bingo," Rekk said, and reached over to his CD book. He took out a Red Hot Chili Peppers album, as well as the Verve. Azure handed him the soundtracks to Edward Scissorhands and Men In Black.  
  
The first scene had been the Edward Scissorhands theme, with Preed standing ghost-like in the robe. Rekk put the CD into a disc drive connected to the mixing boards, cued the song, and when the video faded in, Azure pressed a "Record" button on the mixing board and the song played along with the scene.   
  
"This is cool!" Azure grinned. "We'lll have to show the others tommorrow." Rekk, Preed, Azure, and Riya, swayed their heads to the music, mumbling to the tune."Cool!" They all said.   
  
Rekk recorded the different songs over the different scenes, and placed them in correct order. Then the effects began. Everyone requested filters such as negatives, stretches, slims, even psychedelic effects. When the editing was done, Rekk put a blank cassette into another machine, and pressed two "Record" buttons simultaneously. Twenty minutes later, the cassette popped out, and Azure held it and grinned at it. "The finished product!" she said, and everyone applauded and cheered.   
"Wah hooo!" Azure grinned. "Let's see what we got!"   
They all ran excitedly to the room with the projector screen. Azure dove head-first into the couch, and Rekk put the cassette in. He then stumbled into the chair. Azure clapped twice and the lights dimmed.   
"Okay," Riya said, sitting down with a bucket full of popcorn."Let's watch!"   
  
Azure stretched out and stretched. "Aahhh....Hey! Hey! Hey! Preed! That's my feet you're crushing there! Off! Off! Go!" Azure waved her arms wildly at Preed.   
Preed rolled his eyes. "Sorry."  
The projector screen flickered to life, and faded in to the theme of Edward Scissorhands, with Preed in his ghostly facade. Rekk gave Preed a congratulating pat on the back. Azure said with a laugh, "Maybe some independent film festival will play this."   
  
"Hmm...Perhaps." Preed shrugged.   
Azure grinned. "This is tres cool."   
Preed grinned as he saw himself skating along with Azure and Rekk.  
Azure and Rekk snapped and swayed along to the orchestral ambience of "Bittersweet Symphony".  
Riya watched carefully to see if she had made any mistakes in the camerawork.  
  
Everyone who was watching was thinking the same thing: that the music video was a "photo album" of sorts, one they'd all look back on and smile at.   
  
"This has been one of the best nights I've had guys...I've had so much fun just hangin' out with yo." Azure smiled. Preed nodded in agreement.  
  
Rekk smiled and gave Azure a high-five. "Agreed to that, this noche was killer. Az, Preed, Riya... thanks a lot for nights like this. You guies make sleep deprivation worth it. Same goes out to everyone who's asleep."   
Azure grinned blearily. "Heh heh.   
Preed was the first to raise the issue. "So what do we do next?"  
The group sat in silence.  
They'd done a snowball fight, ice skating, filmed a music video, witnessed an aurora, watched a movie... the only thing that hadn't been done suddenly appeared in Rekk's mind: a nocturnal pastime called...  
"TRUTH OR DARE!!!" Azure yelled.   
  
Preed shrugged. "Alright with me." "Yee hee hee...Who shall be the first victim?" Azure gazed around the group. Azure passed around an evil eye, deciding who would suffer first. As anyone could have predicted, a devious grin formed on her face when her eyes met Preed's. She pointed a finger and Preed rolled his eyes.   
"Fine," he said, "Truth or dare?"   
"Truth." Preed lifted an eyebrow quizzically and took a look of extreme thought.   
Riya whispered."Are you a alien?" She said thoughtfully."No, sorry, go on." She popped a piece of buttered popcorn in her mouth.  
  
Preed shifted to his other foot and looked at Azure thoughtfully, closing one eye. "Hmm...." Azure sigheed and rolled her eyes.   
Everyone seemed to be thinking, when Rekk suddenly said,"Who do you have a crush on?" He asked Preed.   
Preed's eyes widened. "I was afraid of that," he said under his breath.   
Azure tilted her head curiously.   
Preed nervously rubbed the plate on his head. "Hmm...."  
  
Riya grinned, "Yeah, Preed, who do you have a crush on?"  
"Nobody."  
"Come on, who."  
"Seriously. No one."  
"I'll get it out of you, sooner or later." Riya sported a mischevious smirk.  
  
Rekk chuckled. "Nevermind. Alright, who's next?"   
Azure swallowed and attempted to scoot back a tad bit, trying not to make too much noise.   
Preed eyed everyone in the room, until he saw his inevitable target.  
"Miss Archer, truth or dare?" he said slyly.  
Azure frowned and cursed herself inwardly for moving. "Dare...." She muttered. Preed smiled. "Hmm..I dare you too...Hmm...What shall I dare you to do..."   
  
Preed's eyes widened and his smirk grew. "I cordially dare you to dress the drag and do the hula."   
Azure stared at Preed for a moment. "Gah...Uh....Oh alright!" She grumbled, walking off towards her room, she returned wearing her bathing suit and a weird looking shirt improvised out of tiolet paper (Where else can you find a hula shirt on a ship full of Akrennians?) She shot a glare at Preed before doing an odd version of the hula that ended with something like the Macarena.   
  
At the end of the dance, the group applauded and it was Azure's turn to select the next victim. Seeking a sweet revenge, a narrowed eye gazed across the room. No one dared breathe.   
"Let's see...." Azure glared around the room skeptically. "Riya! Truth or dare?"   
Riya grinned evilly, she was truly a "truth" person."Truth!!!" She said.   
"Hmm..." Azure closed one ye and stalked around her 'prey'. "Hhmmm....Ahh...Who do you have a crush on? Sorry, it's the only thing I can think of." Azure shrugged.   
  
Riya turned cold a little, then spoke untruthfully."Er, don't tell Senna, but I used to have a crush on her boyfriend, Noah."   
Preed raised a eyebrow, as if he knew."That doesn't sound right..." He smirked a bit. "I know who you have a crush on!" He sing-songed.   
Azure rolled her eyes at him. "Hey, you never said who you have a crush on!"   
"Yeah, let's hear it!" Riya grinned her evil smile. Preed shook his head."Right after you tell us who you really have a crush on, Riya!"   
  
***  
  
Nane began to stir in the guest room bed, her eyes blinked open and she streched her long legs, she felt reengergise. Nane glanced out the window it was still dark outside, she guessed she couldn't have been asleep for mor than 3 hours or so she hadn't needed more then 4 or 5 hours a sleep for many years now. She checked her bag to make shure everything was still in place and not messed with or anything, when she was satisfyed she opened the door then walled down the hall to the liveing room. Rekk, Preed and Azure were there Riya was to, a slighly nervous look on her face. preed glanced over "Well, look whos up" he said "Yeah i'm awake *yawn* whater'yall doing?" Nane asked  
  
Rekk grinned. "Playing a particularly sadistic round of Truth or Dare."   
Azure nodded. "Uh huh, Preed won't tell us who he likes."   
Riya grinned evilly."I know how to get him to talk!" Then springing on Preed, she grasped his ears, and waved a fist threateningly a inch above Preed's face."Come on Preed, tell us...Or else!!!"   
"Never!" Preed refused.   
  
"Okay, you asked for it!" Then Riya took out a fresh can of pepper spray, then sprayed some in Preed's face. "Ahh! Nooo!" Preed gasped, but only a mist of water reached him.  
"Oh gosh, your sooo easy! Now really tell us!" Riya punched him roughly.   
  
"NO!" Preed growled, scowling and crossing his arms as best he could, glaring at a nearby doorknob. Azure shook her head. "Give it up, he ain't tellin'." She said, rolling her eyes at Preed who scowled only further.   
"heh heh heh" Nane chuckled to herself, still watching Riya perched on Preed shoulders.   
Rekk grinned. "The victim refuses. Shall we move on, then?"   
  
"Hmmm....Lets make this more challenging huh? If yopu refuse to answer the question the person closest to you gets to put makeup on you however they want." She grinned at Preed who suddenly looked horrifidely at Riya. "Uh oh." Azure grinned wider at his expression.   
"Oohoo, the ultimate torture." Nane said.  
"I like that!" Riya laughed evilly, glaring at Preed."Okay Preed, if you could have a million dollars, who in this room would you share it with?"  
  
"Hmm...." Preed looked skeptical. "Anyone you say....Ahh...I'd have to pay Rekk back for the many eye openers I've taken....." "Also known as Pepsi." Azure murmered to Riya. "I'd say I'd pay back Rekk and share it with....Hmm, Riya."   
Rekk grinned at Preed. "No charge, amigo."   
Nane had a slight glint in her eye."Why would you share it with Riya, Preed?" She half-chuckled.   
"My my...Because I have a feeling she's almost the only one who does not wish to kill me at the moment...." He eyed Azure who was still seething over having to dance the 'Hula'.   
  
Rekk tilted his head. "Who said I wanted to kill you?"  
Preed grinned. "Remember when I had to wake you up one afternoon?"  
"Oh, yeah. Well, that wasn't intentional."   
Nane just scrached her ear "kay, just thought I'd ask"   
Preed nodded quickly. Azure crossed her arms and looked around the room.   
Riya coughed."Mind if I pick someone, Azure?"  
"Go ahead! Your call!" Azure grinned, looking quite silly in her toilet paper hula skirt.   
  
"Okay..." Riya looked around the room."Rekk! Truth or Dare?"   
Rekk rolled his eyes. "My time has come. In a meek and reluctant tone, I painfully say... truth."   
"Damn!" Riya whispered a little too loudly, then saw everyone staring at her quizzically."Heh,heh..um... Rekk...er...I can't think of anything...are you sure you want truth, Rekk?" Riya said, giving Rekk her cheesiest grin.   
"Quite positive."   
"Great..." Riya looked up at the ceiling, growling."I'm Rekk, what would you do if a homeless family broke into your house and asked for money?"   
Azure frowned. "Hmm....What if we started doing a kind of comunity truth or dare?"   
  
Riya frowned."What the heck is that!?"   
"Oh! It's when one person is dared or asked a truth and the rest of the group comes up with the question!" Azure grinned. "Ti's a lot of fun!"   
"Okay, sounds fun! So, let's begin, shall we?" Riya said, rubbing her hands together.   
"Alright! Hhmm....What about...Uh.....Hmm..." Azure closed one eye. "What would happen if you went without a drop of Pepsi for more than an hour?"   
"Hmm, if you're askin' me that I'd have to say I'd probably would of killed myself. And it would of been a bad idea to piss me off too." Riya said.  
  
Rekk thought briefly and answered in a casual tone. "I would develop unbelievable cottonmouth, my veins would pulse and thrash through my ghost-white skin, my heart rate would skyrocket, and after intense seconds of wheezing and insufferable symptoms of withdrawal, I would collapse on the cold, metal floor, and with a final twitch of the eye, sink horribly into a coma of the darkest night."   
  
Riya smirked."Great. Got any more, Castanova?" She purred, giving Rekk a dramatic face.   
"...." Azure looked at Rekk strangely for a moment. "...."   
Rekk grinned slyly. "Slight dramatization."   
"Yeeeeaaaaah....." Azure eyed him. "Okay then."   
"Yeah. Slight!" Riya remarked, popping open a Pepsi can."Anything else anyone?" She looked around the room.   
Preed shook his head. "Hmm.....No idea's here my dear."  
  
"Yepers. And Preed..." Riya said, pointing at Preed."Call me 'my dear' again and you'll see another finger, and it won't be this one."   
Preed grinned. "Yes, my dear, of course." Azure rolled her eyes at him. "You're gonna' get yourself thrashed one of these days...Thrashed again that is." She eyed the plate on his skull.   
"Aarrrgh, Preed, I'm gonna kill you!" Riya yelled, thrusting her fist out."I warned ya', but no!"   
Preed grinned, but still backed up nervously.   
"What are you grinning about!? Nothing's funny!" Riya roared as she backed Preed up against a wall.   
  
Rekk rolled his eyes and grinned. "Riya, let's not have a body count."   
Azure looked at him and nodded.   
Preed grinned. "Why my dear...."   
Azure suddenly wrapped her hands around his snout and clamped it shut. "Bad Preed." She said, smirking slightly. "Hey Riya, let's not thrash him....Let's make him do a dare." Azure had an evil glint in her eye. "A really good dare." Preed looked nervously from Riya to Azure.   
Preed glanced anxiously at Rekk with a "Help" expression. Rekk returned with a "You asked for it" shrug.   
  
Riya though for a moment, then snapped her fingers."Preed, we cordially dare you to roll yourself in peanut butter and feathers, and to chirp like a bird to the x-files theme---while flapping!"   
Preed let his mouth drop a bit, eyes widened to three times their normal size. Azure grinned evily, unable to resist. "While wearing a miniskirt." Preed's pupils dialated, Azure grinned at Riya. "That work?"   
Riya grinned back at Azure."You bet! Okay, Preed, let's see it! Giggle!"   
  
Azure grinned. "Come on, we'd better get you that miniskirt!" Azure grined, taking one arm of the protesting Preed. "Come mini-skirt!"   
"Here's your props!" Riya laughed insanely, hands filled with a peanut butter jar, a bag of feathers, mini-skirt, and tape to x-files."Come on...you better do it..." Riya's eyes loomed into Preed."Or else! Heh,heh!!!"   
Nane watched as Preed was drug off to be forced into a miniskirt then she turned to Rekk, "do you think he'll go through with it?   
"With Riya's temper at stake, I believe he'll go along... for a short while, at least."   
  
"Oh come on, you big baby!" Riya said, trying to drag Preed out. Preed finally stumbled out, and everyone began giggling with glee. Preed looked something of a fright, and Rekk couldn't help but form a grin.   
"Shall we begin?" Riya asked Az.   
Azure grinned."Certainly!"   
Riya pressed the button and the music began.   
  
Preed scowled. "Chirp. Chirp. Chirp. Flap. Flap. Flap." He said, very unenthusiasticly while waving his arms up and down. He looked down at Azure who was now rolling on the floor, nearly blue..er as she attempted to catch her breath.   
Rekk ran to his room, grabbed a Polaroid, and much to Preed's dismay, snapped three pictures of him in his undignified pose, before saying, "Okay, okay. The moment's been captured. The victim has suffered enough, methinks."   
Azure kept rolling around on the floor, clutching her stomach and laughing like mad. Preed glared at her, then Rekk, then Riya.   
"Hmm....Perhaps I should work on my flapping." He said, causeing Azure to burst into another giggle fit. He pinned Rekk with a stare. "Hand those over Rekk."   
  
Rekk flashed a sly grin. "Just one sent to the tabloids?"  
"Hand them over."  
"Oh, fine."   
Preed nodded. "Thank you." Then he ripped up the polariods.   
"Anyhow, is the community truth or dare still on?" Rekk inquired.  
  
"Sure! Lesseee...Preed, your turn to pick someone."   
"Riya. Truth or dare?"   
Azure looked at Preed and was reminded of a giant chicken.   
"Gosh. Something tells me I'm going to regret this, but, dare." Riya said.   
Preed got a disturbing smile on his face. "Riya, I dare you to cover yourself in spray cheese and jelly while wearing a bathrobe and a tiara, then run screaming bloody murder down the hall. then I want you to jump up and down and yell like a monkey." Preed grinned, seemingly proud of that dare. Azure couldn't help but snicker a bit seeing as he still looked like a giant chicken with ears....   
  
"Okay." Riya said grinning, and walking into the bathroom. Appearing back out, cheese and jelly smothered around her, she adjusted the towel, then ran down the hall."Bllloooddyyy Muurrrdderr!" Riya wailed, then jumped up high, holding her tiara, then yelled like a monkey.   
"Well...that was fast" Nane said flicking one of her ears.  
  
Hoth poked his head out of his room's door. "What the *Cencored* was that? Eh?" He squinted at the group eyeing Preed lastly, then he caught site of Riya. "I dun' think I wanna' know anymore...." He mumbled, then dissappeared back into his room, mumbling about Pepsi drunken crewmembers and their habits. Preed seemed to look satisfide with his 'revenge'.   
  
Rekk raised an eyebrow. "Methinks we've discovered a way to scare people off. Anyhow, who's next?"  
"Riya! Your turn to pick someone!" Azure grinned. A sudden bang came from Hoth's room, followed by a string of curses. "I fell outa' my bed AGAIN!" His voice yelled and there was the sound of creaking that must have been him climbing back in.  
Riya snorted."Methinks Hoth's cranky. Um...Nane. Truth or Dare?"   
  
" Who, what..me?? ok um..Ahh..hmm. well....." Nane certainly did not want to be covered in gunk of any kind but then there we're downs side to the truth option. Nane started mumbling under her breath.   
"Anytime now" Preed said getting a little impatient. BR"Yeah yeah fine...truth..I guess.."   
Riya stuttered."Nane, who's your dream mantrin of the century..er, lover."   
Nane was releaved that the question wasn't too personal, "I don't have one," she replied.  
  
The truth or dare tournament was quickly dissolving. Rekk offered a suggestion so as not to waste a second more. "How's about a mummy wrap?"  
"Ooooo! Sounds good!" Azure grinned.   
"What a mummy wrap?" Riya asked.   
"Hmm...I believe it's when you wrap someone in toilet paper..." Preed said, his one ear flicking, flinging peanut butter clumps at the wall.   
  
Rekk said, "Indeed it is. Hold on, I'll go fetch some."  
He began to trudge out of the room, but slowly stopped to a halt as his eye glanced out the large window  
  
The pitch black sky that he and the crew had gazed at for what seemed like a decade was evolving. Gradients of newborn orange streaked across the horizons. The endless snow now glistened in correspondence with the brightening sky. The crew noticed the change as well, and all heads turned to focus on the fading darkness. Trees were now visible for miles. The ice lake which had seemed so distant hours before was now within eyesight. Their footprints, now fossils of the previous night, were still embedded in the curving snow. The last of the constellations were swallowed by the sunrise and the crew couldn't help but sigh.  
  
As if they had just woken up, they all groggily stood up, and began to shuffle down the hall. Words didn't have to be said for what they were all thinking: the previous night had been an extraordinary one. A memory engraved in everyone's mind.  
  
Before the hallway separated into different rooms and they all walked separate paths throughout the ship, Preed was the first to speak since the sun had rosen, and asked a question that involuntarily made everyone else stop in their tracks and ponder:  
  
"So, uh... what are we doing tonight?"  
  
THE END  
  
***  
  
This was written over late Summer when it started on the date of June the Seventh and ended on September Thirty-First at four hundred and thirty-five posts. It is the greatest, most entertaining, and longest roleplay the message board dubbed Space Port Seven has had the pleasure of hosting and being home to. Please visit, we'd love to see you there :)  
http://pub23.ezboard.com/btitanae53171"Space Port Seven 


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